A number of devices have been developed for processing drinking water. These include filtration devices and oxygenating devices. The need for filtration devices to remove impurities is obvious. In particular, as pollution and overpopulation puts greater strains on the available supplies of drinking water, there is a general tendency for municipal water supplies to degrade, and consequently, for bottled water and filtered water to become more popular.
Additionally, it has more recently become known that increasing the oxygen content in water has health benefits. As a result, a method and apparatus for generating oxygenated water is known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,287, issued to Hough et al. in 1998, discloses a method of oxygenating water with electrolytic cells. The disclosure includes means for supplying a varying amount of water with at least a selected level of oxygen. In spite of this advance, technology is limited in its ability to raise the levels of oxygen concentration within water. Because the demand for higher levels of oxygen concentration in water exceeds the ability of current technology, there remains a need for a new and novel method and apparatus for generating oxygenated water.
Similarly, the popular medical press has indicated that antioxidants may be instrumental in preventing disease and in protecting cells from damage that can result in premature aging. As a result, it is widely known that certain vitamins have an antioxidant potential. However, because the availability of antioxidants is limited to certain foods and food supplements, it is not the case that all people consume an adequate supply of antioxidants. Therefore, additional availability of antioxidants would result in an increase in the health of many people.